Rahm Emanuel at his victory party Tuesday night.(John Gress/Getty Images)

With the introduction of touch-screen voting, waiting for election returns isn’t the marathon it used to be. By 8:00 p.m. Tuesday night, it was clear that Rahm Emanuel would take more than 50 percent of the vote and be the next mayor of Chicago.

On the second floor of the Stephen M. Bailey Auditorium of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union Local 130 Hall, a soundtrack cycled such campaign favorites as “Born to Run” and “Beautiful Day.” A man ripped off his bomber jacket to show his T-shirt, with “Southside for Rahm” on the front and “50% + 1” on the back, then he flexed his huge biceps and vamped for cell-phone cameras. Meanwhile, on the first floor, habitués of the VIP room hid behind glass doors guarded solemnly by Rahm’s munchkin sentries.

At 8:30 p.m., Rahm campaign volunteers holding hand-lettered signs announcing the names of their neighborhoods filed into the auditorium and onto the stage as if for an amateur production of a Brecht play. After many people had thanked many other people, Emanuel and his family, which had been campaigning with him over the pre-election weekend, stepped on stage. Rahm stood behind the podium, flanked by his wife, Amy Rule, his three children, and his parents. He hugged and kissed them and made a speech full of the same sound bites he had deployed throughout the campaign.

But it didn’t matter. Not because he had won, but because covering a campaign is like being in a love affair. You act in strange ways. You forgive a lot. You’re sad when it ends.

I’m not talking about the candidate himself. But in love with the race, the process itself. The press, the candidate, the volunteers, are locked into some secret pact. A hushed intimacy, a private language is developed. Truths are shared. Or so you imagine.

Of course you don’t want it to end—who does?—and yet it must, and when it does it’s a downer. All of this is why, I said to myself, I could recite so many of the sound bites Rahm delivered on election night by heart: We cannot live in denial. If you see a fork in the road, take it. Even though it’s cold at an El stop, it’s the warmest place in the world because of Chicagoans’ hearts.

I started writing The Rahm Report because I became obsessed with what the possibility of the first Jewish mayor in Chicago means for Jews in 2011. I was haunted by Chicago’s past and by certain characterizations of the city, such as one made by Joseph Epstein in his recent National Review piece. “Chicago is a city of peasants, or, more precisely, people of peasant background: Poles, Italians, Irish, Greeks, blacks,” he wrote. “Peasants, I think it fair to say, don’t get Jews.”

I found that political commentators and pundits both dismissed Epstein’s contrarian remark and believed that anti-Semitism would not affect the outcome of the campaign and therefore was not worth discussing. But my interest was in what is unseen. It lay in how Emanuel’s Jewishness would be regarded in Chicago, how he would describe it, what was allowed to be said, and what was considered taboo.

Over the course of the campaign, there were both hidden and overt instances of anti-Semitism, but in the last week, two things happened that provide snapshots of its role in the campaign.

First, anti-Semitic fliers were distributed on the El. Then, on February 16, shortly after Carol Moseley Braun, the former senator running for mayor, made a joke that some interpreted as comparing Hitler to Rahm, Gery Chico supporter and union leader Jim Sweeney, a supporter of Gery Chico, another candidate, called Emanuel “nothing but a Wall Street Judas … with a bag of silver when he went and passed NAFTA.” This was similar to what happened in 2002, when Emanuel was running for Senate. After a supporter of Nancy Kaszak, his opponent, called him a “millionaire carpetbagger,” Kaszak lost her lead—and the race—even though she renounced the supporter’s slurs.

In 2011, both Sweeney and Chico’s campaign denied that the remark was anti-Semitic. Sweeney might as well have cited Benedict Arnold, a campaign spokesperson said, reading a dictionary definition of Judas that did not include the word Jew in it. The spokesperson added that Chico has three Jewish children. (His first wife, Jeryl Minow, whom he divorced in 2000, is Jewish.) In an unusually open display of support for the Emanuel campaign, Richard Daley called the comment “a disgrace.” And Emanuel made a public statement that stood out in that it acknowledged his Jewishness at all. “We all know the history of that comment, and we know the history of that reference,” he said. “I have absolute confidence in the people of the City of Chicago and what they’ll see it for and they will not accept it or any of the connotations or the values behind it.”

Yet the few media outlets covering the flap concluded either that calling someone a “Wall Street Judas” was no big deal or that Emanuel’s protest of the remark was a cynical campaign strategy—that it proved that Emanuel was worried about winning the 50 percent he needed to avoid facing a run-off. (At least Capitol Fax spelled anti-Semitism right.)

***

On Sunday, the day began in the historic Pullman neighborhood at the House of Hope Baptist Church, which is run by Pastor James Meeks, formerly a candidate for mayor.

Pretty 19th-century brick row houses still stand in this neighborhood, which was declared a local and national landmark in the 1970s. Inside the arena-style church, which can seat 10,000, God was being thanked. The choir was wearing white T-shirts with the word “Redeemed” on them in red. The stage was dotted with giant potted ferns. A huge crane with a camera on it swooped around to shoot worshippers who then appeared on an enormous screen. Fliers about redemption were handed out at the door. At one point, the redeemed were asked to stand.

Meeks had invited all the candidates to his congregation that day, and he gave hints as to his preference in his introductions. “The first call I received was Rahm Emanuel. He called me and I said, ‘I know your passion is education. Let’s make this a race about issues and not about each other.’ ” Meeks also noted that Rahm had brought his family to church.

Here, in this Baptist church, Emanuel’s ordinary lackluster speeches were transformed into oration. He began by saying he was not comfortable behind a pulpit. “I grew up in a house where there was separation of church and state,” he said. Then, about the church, he added, “We may course separate waters but our destination is the same.”

Emanuel also described how, the night before his son Zachariah’s bar mitzvah at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, he thought of Rabbi Hillel. “If I am not for myself who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?”

There were murmurs of approval and applause.

Emanuel continued: “I do not want to give a political speech at the pulpit.” He talked about dead kids’ eyes and he reaffirmed his commitment to the city. His family—two little girls, one with glasses, a boy with his hands shoved in his pockets, and his wife—was down by the stage. In the parking lot, two SUVs awaited them.

On to lunch at McArthur’s Restaurant on the far west side. Doc Walls was campaigning there. A guy walked around the restaurant chanting, “Say no to Rahm.” The plates of food were enormous. Here was Jesse White, the Illinois Secretary of State, with a two-person security detail. Emanuel, who does not have a security detail, was with Zachariah, his 13-year-old. Emanuel walked around, talking, for example, to three ex-cons concerned about guns—not having them when everyone else in their neighborhood does.

The final event of day was at a campaign field office in a Polish mini mall on the far Northwest side. The signs were all in Polish and English. It suddenly occurred to me that, as far as I can tell, although Rahm Emanuel has been to a lot of churches over the weekend, he has not been to a single synagogue. Or at least, there have been no open press events at synagogues. The campaign declines to answer questions about this.

I zone out, staring at the campaign posters taped to the field office wall. I’ve probably seen them a thousand times. There is a white one, which depicts the silhouette of the city of Chicago. But wait a sec. What’s that underneath Chicago? It’s a six-pointed star! And there are also two white six-pointed stars on the blue poster with “Rahm for mayor” in the middle.

At home, I scour the Internet for images of all the mayoral campaign posters. Del Valle and Braun do not have six-pointed stars on their posters. Chico has stars on his. I look up a few historic posters. Mayor Daley never had any stars.

There’s more: According to Wikipedia, the four six-pointed stars lined up in a row are not the Jewish star. Of course not! They’re part of the Chicago municipal flag. Each star represents a major event in Chicago history, like the 1933 World’s Fair. But the stars on the Chicago municipal flag are thinner—more twinkle, twinkle. Rahm’s star is fatter. It looks like the Jewish stars that you see engraved in stone on old urban synagogues or on headstones in cemeteries. The Board of Commissioners Election Page uses a five-pointed star. I look at Chico’s campaign poster again, since his is the only one I have found with stars. His stars are the twinkle twinkle version.

Pretty soon I’m driving all around town taking pictures of the stars on campaign posters on my cell phone and sending them to my editor. Some are five pointed, some are six pointed. But then I get discouraged. What mystery? What’s the point? The star on Emanuel’s campaign poster is not literally a Jewish star.

And then I get it. The point—ha!—is that it looks like one. And the stars—whether they’re Jewish or just resemble Jewish stars—reflect the whole problem with this campaign. Emanuel has hardly mentioned his Jewishness, except in Baptist churches. His religion is his private affair. Private is private. On the other hand, being Jewish does have a distinct meaning in Chicago, which, after all, has never had a Jewish mayor.

Someone I deeply respect once said to me that Chicago was like New York in the 1950s. She meant that in a good way—she meant that the city had a certain freedom to it, like Greenwich Village after the war. That it was not overly commercialized, like New York. And sometimes I agree with her.

But Greenwich Village after the war was only good for certain people. And at these times, I have felt that my obsession with being Jewish here drags me back to post-World War II, in a bad way. I have felt then that I am part of my parents’ generation, which got excited about Jewish baseball players or Bess Myerson, the Jewish Miss America. And which was filled with anxiety about their own Jewishness. They were tormented by being restricted from clubs and universities. We live in different times. And yet at times I have been startled by my own apparently uncritical attitude toward this tribalism, this kind of us-and-them thinking and paranoia, that belief in Jewish exceptionalism.

I know you’re not supposed to think this way anymore in 2011, especially if you’re Jewish. But I do, sometimes. I think of that moment when Rahm stood in the Baptist church referring to Rabbi Hillel, talking about himself in the most personal way I had heard since the beginning of the campaign. There was something about it that seemed so intimate that it made me want to cry.

Rachel Shteir, a professor at the Theatre School of DePaul University, is the author of three books, including, most recently,The Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting. She is working on a biography of Betty Friedan for Yale Jewish Lives.

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“He thought of Rabbi Hillel. ‘If I am not for myself who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?'”

Seriously? Either you misquoted him, or he’s incredibly ignorant. In the first place, Hillel the Elder didn’t have the title Rabbi. There was a Rabbi Hillel, but he lived a few centuries later.

In the second place, that quote is so incredibly mangled as to be laughable. A common mistranslation gives the second of the three lines as “And if I am only for myself, what am I?” It most certainly does not say anything about “If I am not for others”. And the correct translation, in any case, is “And when I am for myself, what am ‘I’?” The word “only” does not appear in the line.

Rahm supposedly lived in Israel for a little while. He grew up going to Anshe Emet (which granted, isn’t the best day school, but it’s still a day school).

Jews fight for everyone but themselves. If Jews stood together instead of being so fractionated there would be a lot less anti-Jew behavior and attitudes. But when you have Jews picketing for the PLO and calling Israel an Apartheid regime and Holocaust survivors on board the boat to Gaza then we have a serious problem. The Nazis exploited that weakness and we haven’t changed in over 60 years. Jonathan Pollard rots in jail because Jews don’t challenge the government or demand justice. Blacks were ready to riot for OJ Simpson in LA even though he was guilty. Jews just prefer to do nothing or build hiding places like they did in Europe during WWII. It didn’t help them did it?

Jews, old and young, still get excited about Jewish athletes, Jewish beauty queens, Jews successful in politics and Israel as an independent Jewish state. Hurray for Rahm Emanuel! “Am Yisrael Chai!”

May Dsays:

February 24, 2011 - 10:46 am

Hurrah for Rahm Emanuel and
Hurrah for Rachel Shteir.
Will you follow his mayoralty as you
have his campaign? Keep those of us
still in NYC informed?
I hope so!
May D

Dr. Michael Zidonovsays:

February 24, 2011 - 10:50 am

Jews were here First, the True Believers in The One True GOD … We have given the world every thing, won multiples of every Prize there is, perfected every Science, always fought against devastating odds, and have won because WE ARE, The CHOSEN of Almighty-GOD … It baffles me completely, that we continue to let ourselves be fooled by Secularists and other momzer Sell-Outs, like Rahm Emanuel, who is NOT Jewish, and is definitely SOLD-OUT to Islam, Obama, and all the other diseased Arab/Moslem dogs … WHEN DOES IT STOP ??? We are NOT ignrant, how then can we be so stupid ??? S’hema Israel …!!!

Michael, don’t be daft. Of course Rahm is Jewish. He’s my third cousin, so I know that for a fact. Is he a good Jew? That’s a different question entirely.

JCarpentersays:

February 24, 2011 - 11:56 am

Rachel, I appreciate your coverage of Rahm Emanuel’s run for office, and I too hope you will continue to cover his career as mayor of Chicago. I hope his presence will be positive, productive, unifying, and if thus, as long as Daley’s.
What I don’t get is the pining for his Jewishness to emerge. He was elected mayor, not rabbi. Any incidents of anti-semitism seemed quite a stretch, unintended, over-interpreted; the entire campaign was one of the cleanest I’ve witnessed in the city and state, with little if any attacks on person.
That being said, how appropriate that his faith is expressed freely and genuinely in a house of God, on a day of worship, put aside from politics; what remains to be seen will be how his faith affects his work, his leadership, his service, his priorities, his compassion for a City and all of its residents.

Barbarasays:

February 24, 2011 - 12:46 pm

I wonder if Rahm has his sights on a future presidential run. First Jewish president! Go Rahm.

M. Sheila Harrissays:

February 24, 2011 - 12:49 pm

Bill, your comments about Jews standing up for others, but not themselves, has a (sadly) profound ring of truth. But not 100% so because there are a wealth of Jewish organizations, ADL, RAC (Reform Action Committee), NJDC (National Jewish Democratic Council), CAMERA, Honest Reporting, etc., who stand up for Jewish issues and speak out when anti-Semitism spreads its poison. But why do too many Jews, as individuals, not protest, not speak out, or prefer to blame the Jews too. There’s no simple answer, but it’s too important a topic not to explore further. Thanks for posting, Bill!

Annsays:

February 24, 2011 - 12:56 pm

Rahm Emmanual is just another Chicago thug.

Dr. Michael Zidonovsays:

February 24, 2011 - 1:11 pm

Bless You Lisa, and my condolences for your being related to him … But, none of what you say has anything to do with what is in his heart … His actions in the last six years have proven my point … Frum he is not …

Doloressays:

February 24, 2011 - 1:19 pm

Michael Zidonov’s posting should be deleted because of the perjorative label he includes defaming Muslims and Arabs. Freedom of speech is one thing but racist ranting is not acceptable.

Dr. Michael Zidonovsays:

February 24, 2011 - 2:46 pm

THANK YOU !!! Some of you people continue to prove my point !!!

“Racist Ranting???” You are Pathetic …….

rivkasays:

February 24, 2011 - 4:58 pm

Go Rahm!

Avrohom Wachssays:

February 24, 2011 - 8:52 pm

Dr. Zidonov, It is easy ton see that you are a proud and passionate Jew! However, your anger interferes with your sechel (common sense).The Torah teaches us that anger is like idol worship. It takes control of its victims and blocks objective reasoning. Maybe you can express yourself in a calmer manner. In this way you may not feel that you must defend from other Jews! Most of all, as a Jew, you should always remember the world is watching! This advice comes with wishes of only good thoughts may be heard from you. Sincerely, Rabbi Avrohom Wachs

Jim Msays:

February 24, 2011 - 9:23 pm

Psalm 44:17-22

All this came upon us,
though we had not forgotten you;
we had not been false to your covenant.
Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.
But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals;
you covered us over with deep darkness.

If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

Dr. Michael Zidonovsays:

February 24, 2011 - 9:45 pm

Dear Rabbi Wachs,

With utmost Respect, I Thank You …

It is understandable how you could have reached the conclusions that you have about me, it is also understandable how you cannot possibly begin to imagine how you could be so pitiably wrong …

We must be able to recognize a snake for being a snake, because we are bound by Torah to teach the Children how to recognize snakes, and avoid them … We do not judge, because there is no need, as such miscreants judge themselves by their actions and words, and it is patently assinine to pull out the “Racist” crapola simply because the Truth is inconvenient for Liberals … I care not for Political Correctitude, as it only masks the Truth, which no matter how vehemently it may be argued against, is still the Truth … Medical Science has long since proved that Liberalism is a Mental Defect, and its end results are always damningly disasterous, and yet … we keep promoting it, thinking that if we Make Nice, everybody will suddenly like us and leave us alone !!! That naivete has not worked in my seventy-three years, and it never will … If we do not stop allowing people to mistreat us, then we deserve everything that happens to us … then, what do we say to the Children ???

Also, I’m trying to figure out what Rachel means by “touch screen voting”. Rachel, honestly, did you even research this story? A little bit? We use paper ballots, and we mark our choices by using a special marker pen they give us to connect two black lines. That’s how the ballots were here for the presidential primaries, the presidential elections, and this week’s mayoral and aldermanic elections.

“Touch screens”. In your imagination.

naomi weinberg radtkesays:

February 26, 2011 - 5:56 pm

Dear Fellow Jews: It is not our JOB to determine Rahm’s level of Jewishness. We all do our very special
Religion in our own way. What makes he & his family any different. I agree, this is a private affair.
We ought to leave him alone, to do the best job he knows how. He must be very smart, or our President
would never have chosen him to server with him.

We on The West Coast are grateful that G-D has again allowed one of our best people to help a fine city
in America.

Naomi Weinberg-Radtke
California

Bob Solomonsays:

February 27, 2011 - 4:41 pm

As a Member of Congress, Rahm was known for being fiercely partisan and for his liberal use of profanity. The same was true during his tenure as Obama’s Chief of Staff, although the news media soft-pedaled it substantially. Let us hope that, as mayor of Chicago, he cultivates a more refined image, even if that is atypical for Chicago politics.

Dr? Zidinov,
You have my sympathy. Any one who harbors such hatred for liberals is only to be pitied. Do you even understand the meaning of the word? Such bitterness only smacks of racism.
You also just might want to research the Emanuel family name a bit more. The family adopted this name after a family member whose given name was Emanuel was killed fighting in Israel, for Israel.
Shame on you.

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